(01-10-2019, 01:14 PM)terry Wrote: Thanks to both of you for the update!
My impression is that the Big 10 schools (Penn St., Ohio St., Michigan) tend to fade in the spring, while Florida and UCLA will be stronger as time goes by. I haven't done the research to back up that impression, though.
Your impressions are correct. I consider Florida and UCLA to be Stanford's strongest competition.
Florida is the only other school besides Stanford to have finished in the top 10 every year. In fact, Florida has never finished lower than 7th. They've finished 2nd 5 times and 3rd 5 times. They've done this with far fewer sports than Stanford. They participate in only 9 men's sports and 12 women's sports. Stanford has 15 men's sports and 16 women's sports. Under the old scoring structure, 10 men's sports and 10 women's sports were counted, so Florida was handicapped with the men having only 9.
UCLA has finished 2nd 8 times and 3rd 7 times. They had never finished out of the top 10 until 2008-09. They've since finished out of the top 10 3 times. When they have finished in the top 10, they also have not finished below 7th.
USC has been strong lately, finishing 4th for the last 3 years and 3rd 4 years ago.
The 3 Big 10 schools you mention are by far the best of the conference. I believe Ohio St. has 1 more sport than Stanford and could do better than they have. They've been all over the map in the last 8 years, finishing 2nd 3 times and out of the top 10 twice.
Michigan generally finishes 3rd - 6th, but has also finished out of the top 10 6 times.
Penn St. has finished in the top 10 12 times. Their best finishes have been 1 3rd place and 1 4th place.